The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for a wire cleaning device that uses non-woven fibrous material on rolls to remove dirt and oil from metal wires prior to the application of an insulating material by an extruder.
The removal of dirt, oil, and other contaminants from a wire prior to the application of an insulation or coating is crucial to ensuring the durability and effectiveness of the wire as a conductor of electrical signals in electrical wires. Dirty wires lead to a variety of problems, including poor coating bonding, wire breaks, spark faults and other deficiencies in the final product. Furthermore, dirty wires can result in reducing the effectiveness of subsequent extruder tooling operations, such as the clogging of extrusion tips.
A common approach to cleaning wires is to use brushes to remove scale and slag from a wire""s surface. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,268,449 to Spreafico and 5,613,286 to McCabe disclose wire cleaners consisting of wire brushes which sweep the wire""s exterior surface to wipe away any contaminants thereon. However, the wire brushes in Spreafico and McCabe are designed to remove scale and slag and do not effectively remove oil, dirt and other small viscous contaminants.
Other methods of cleaning a wire use a combination of detergent baths and ultrasonics. However, the use of detergent baths is disfavored due to the environmental and health risks involved. Also, the use of both detergent baths and ultrasonic methods are expensive and hinder their widespread use.
Another common approach to cleaning a wire is to run the dirty wire through a rag or set of felt wipers. However, this method is time consuming and ineffective because the rags become dirty quickly and must be replaced often, leading to frequent instances when the machines must be shut down for maintenance.
In view of the foregoing deficiencies, it would be desirable to have a wire cleaning device that removes oil, dirt and other contaminants from a wire in an efficient and cost-effective manner.
The present invention is directed to a wire cleaning device using a pair of non-woven fibrous material web or sheets on rolls to wipe the surface of a wire to remove oil, dirt and other contaminants. A continuous web or sheet of the material is fed from a top feeder roll to a top receiver roll and from a bottom feeder roll to a bottom receiver roll. The two sheets are positioned in close proximity to one another by a pair of guiding plates. A wire is fed between the top and bottom sheets such that the two sheets encircle the wire and clean its entire surface. The non-woven fibrous material sheet is constantly fed from the feeder roller to the receiver roller to provide a continuously clean wiping surface for the wire and prevents the sheet from clogging up with debris. This ensures that the wire is properly cleaned when leaving the device.
While a variety of non-woven fibrous material can be used, including polyester, polyesterblends, rayon, polyolefins, cellulose, cellulose blends, cotton and cotton blends, it has been determined that a non-woven polyester and rayon blend offers the best wiping characteristics providing a sheet with adequate strength and lint-free debris.